Yesterday, Scott Pelley lectured his new 60 Minutes boss on how the network was “MURDERING” the Elitist Media’s most hallowed news magazine. In the process, he ended up committing career seppuku and has just been shown the door by CBS News.
Puck’s Dylan Byers reports that Pelley was called into the office to meet with top brass after yesterday’s pompous flameout:
Bari Weiss, Nick Bilton, Tom Cibrowski, and CBS HR invited Scott Pelley to a meeting at 5pm ET tonight to discuss a path forward after his vocal protest earlier this week in the 60 Minutes all-hands.
The two sides did not find common ground. Bari & Co. were left with sense that Scott was not open minded about reaching detente; meanwhile, Scott maintained strong frustrations with leadership.
Scott left meeting and was told they'd have an update on his employment in a matter of minutes... instead, Bari and her team deliberated for several hours.
After those several hours, Pelley was fired for cause. Bilton’s letter to Pelley follows:
Dear Mr. Pelley:
I meant what I said in my letter last week to the 60 Minutes team: joining 60 Minutes is the honor of my career and I am grateful to be working alongside the people who have contributed to the most important television journalism brand this country has ever produced. While I’m new to 60 Minutes, I’ve devoted my career to investigative journalism and storytelling. I started this job excited to collaborate and to benefit from the wisdom and experience of the 60 Minutes veterans, with you among them. For that reason, one of the first things I did in my new role was call you to talk and invite you to dinner. It is a profound disappointment that you rejected that overture and chose ambush instead. Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt. I welcome a diversity of viewpoints and respectful debate among the team, but this was nothing of the sort. Yesterday’s performative display of hostility—enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation—demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress. I am here to deliver first-in-class news programming, not to make headlines about newsroom drama. I am eager to work alongside those who share this goal.
Despite yesterday’s misconduct, I had hoped that in sitting down with you today we could find a path forward together. You made clear that you are not interested in such a path.
Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc. (“CBS”) to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately. Enclosed is your formal termination letter.
Sincerely,
Nick Bilton
Executive Producer, 60 Minutes
Bilton then sent the following memo to the whole of the news division:
Team,
You should hear this from me first. We have parted ways with Scott Pelley.
I know how much Scott meant to many of you, and I don't say this lightly. I made repeated attempts to have direct conversations with him over the weekend, and this afternoon I tried to find common ground. That was not the path Scott chose.
What I regret most is that this situation interfered with the conversation I had hoped to have with you about Season 59 and the future of this show. I realize this is a great deal of change in a very short time, and I wouldn't pretend otherwise.
I won't relitigate the last week with you here. What I will commit to is this: My unyielding support for each of you, the journalism that you do and what we will do together going forward.
Nick
The media hall monitors will likely go into a Chernobyl-level meltdown and go on a multi-day rampage about how the Pelley firing is but the latest attack on free speech. The “for-cause” mid-contract firing certainly anticipates a lawsuit which will draw additional coverage and provide Pelley with a Resistance™ Supernova exit. Likely to Substack.
But make no mistake. After pulling that stunt and putting on that much of a show, Pelley’s firing was not a matter of “if” but “when”.
This is a breaking news story, we will update as more details become available.
